Category: OS X
How to speed up screenshots in Sonoma
You can easily take a screenshot of your Macintosh computer screen by holding down Shift-Command-4. A cross-hair appears and you can click and drag over the area you want to screenshot. I just upgraded to MacOS Sonoma and there is a delay of 2 seconds for the cross-hair to appear. Here’s a very simple fix!…
New Mac won’t boot into safe mode!
I was trying to boot my 2021 MacBook Pro into safe mode. (This is like a checkup that can fix some minor issues). For years the way to boot into safe mode was to hold down the shift key while the computer starts up. This has changed with the newer silicon Macs. Here’s the new…
Hidden files
OS X has lots of files you can’t see. This is to make it look prettier and also so you don’t break things. Sometimes you may want to see a hidden folder. For example there’s a Library folder which can contain settings for Applications. To show hidden files in OSX from the finder, click in…
Applications breaking in Catalina
Before you upgrade to OS X Catalina you may need to stop and assess the applications that will stop working. Catalina is what is called 64 bit. They are not at all compatible. Previous OSX version (e.g. Mojave) would have given you a warning about 32 bit applications that you are running. So I knew…
‘Accessibility needs to be enabled’ error in Catalina
In OSX Catailna Apple have introduced lots of security ‘Features’ which make it harder to install and run software, especially with software that interacts with other applications. You may get a warning telling you that accessibility needs to be enabled. Here is how you can turn it on for a particular application.
How to change the icon of an AppleScript in OS X.
In my previous posts I have lead you through how to make an AppleScript that can use to open a particular website URL in a particular browser. You can drag these Apple scripts to your dock to instantly access any URL from your dock. Obviously the next step is you will want to give these…
How to get an old version of MacOS server
Apple used to have a fantastic application called OSX Server (now called MacOS Server) which allowed you to run a full server from any OSX computer. A server can allow you share files, run your own email or web server, remotely connect in to your office etc. OSX server was particularly powerful running on a…
Mojave working nicely!
I have installed OS X Mojave and it is working nicely. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that some of my older and more obscure applications are still working. Photoshop CS 5.1 is working. I was expecting it to break, but as usual I just had to load the Java run script libraries and…
How to download Mojave
Mac OS X Mojave was released this week. Don’t forget that if you have more than one Apple computer it will save you time and data if you download the installer once and then copy it across to your various computers. Don’t use the automatic update feature of OS X. Instead download the installer from…
How to install an App that doesn’t come from the Apple App store
Apple don’t want you to do this, but it’s necessary for some apps. Go to System Preferences then ‘Security and Privacy’. Click on the lock in ht bottom left corner. Click this second option You may need to go in and allow some apps individually from this same control panel when you are trying to…
How to download Apple software updates to reduce your internet usage.
Apple as usual have been putting out software updates regularly, but some of them are very big. Software update 10.13.5 is over 2GB and 10.13.4 was 2.5GB. We have 4 Macintosh computers in our household so when they each download it, that ads up to approx 10GB of downloads. This is not a problem if…
Old versions of Filemaker Pro crash in High Sierra
Last October I posted here about what apps were incompatible with High Sierra. I need to add that Filemaker Pro 11 is completely unusable. It crashes whenever you do anything. (And according to a comment below FileMaker 12 does not work either.)
Illustrator stuck on ‘Hand’ Tool in High Sierra
Today I discovered a major bug using Illustrator with Apple High Sierra 10.13.1. Illustrator is stuck on the ‘hand’ tool. This renders illustrator completely useless because you can’t do anything at all. A quick Google search discovered that lots of other people have discovered this problem in all versions of Illustrator and also InDesign. I…
How to delete an application in OS X
In OS X you can install software using the App Store but there is no option there to uninstall the software. Here are two ways to delete software in OS X.
High Sierra update
On October 31 Apple released the first update to High Sierra, OSX 10.13.1. There were a few teething issues with High Sierra 10.13 so the release of 10.13.1 might be a good time to upgrade. My ‘Software Update would not find High Sierra or the upgrade. I went to ‘Software Update’ only to be told ‘No…
How to change the icon of a file or folder in OS X
All applications and documents on your Macintosh computer have something called icon. An icon is the picture that you see next to the filename of the file. For example, the picture above is a picture of the icon for the Apple messages application. Normally you won’t want to go messing around with icons but sometimes there may be…
OS X Sierra 10.12.1 – Time machine Problems
Overnight Apple released an upgrade for macOS Sierra, but it doesn’t seem to have addressed the Time Machine backup issue. If you have not yet upgraded to macOS Sierra I would hold off a little longer.
OS X Sierra Problems – hold off before upgrading.
Just a heads up that Mac OS Sierra has some major issues: windows redrawing slowly and funny glitches on my screen. (still not fixed) time machine backup is broken – I cannot backup or restore from time machine back up. (still no fix. Apple have some suggestions about resetting the PRAM but that didn’t seem to…
Automatically log in when your computer starts up
When you login OS X asks you for a password. This is a great security feature, especially if you have a laptop and you are taking it places. If you have a computer at home or in your study and you are the only one that has physical access to your computer you may want…
Login to your mac automatically without having to type a password
By default OS X requires you to type in a password and login each time you restart your computer. If your computer is in a secure location, for example your office, you may want to set up OS X to log in automatically for you. Here is how to do this.
How to make a bootable Thumbdrive of OS X
It’s very handy to have a bootable version of OS X on a thumb drive. I have written how to do this using a program called DiskMaker X, and I have written about how to do it from the command line here, but after doing this a few times I find the most reliable method is the…